Hypertext and Instructional Design: Some Preliminary Guidelines

Hypertext is a nonlinear way of presenting content consisting of nodes and links that a person can access using a variety of search and browsing strategies. In this article, we focus on the use of hypertext as an instructional tool. We compare hypertext instruction with traditional instructional formats. We offer some initial guidelines relating to guidance and control, development and implementation, multiuser management, user interface, and content representation. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations of learner control as an instructional strategy, and the need for careful instructional design of hypertext instructional programs.     

Subjective well-being in cultural advocacy: a politics of research between the market and the academy

This paper responds to a trend of contracting out subjective well-being econometrics to demonstrate social return on investment (SROI) for evidence-based policy-making. We discuss an evolving ecology of ‘external’ research taking place ‘between’ the academy and commercial consultancy. We then contextualise this as waves of research methodologies and consultancy for the cultural sector. The new model of ‘external between’ consultancy research for policy is not only placed between the University and the market, but also facilitates discourse between policy sectors, government, the media and the academy. Specifically, it enables seductive but selective arguments for advocacy that claim authority through academic affiliation, yet are not evaluated for robustness. To critically engage with an emergent form of what Stone calls ‘causal stories’, we replicate a publicly funded externally commissioned SROI model that argues for the value of cultural activities to well-being. We find that the author’s operationalisation of participation and well-being are crucial, yet their representation of the relationship problematic, and their estimates questionable. This case study ‘re-performs’ econometric modelling national-level survey data for the cultural sector to reveal practices that create norms of expertise for policy-making that are not rigorous. We conclude that fluid claims to authority allow experimental econometric models and measures to perform across the cultural economy as if ratified. This new model of advocacy research requires closer academic consideration given the changing research funding structures and recent attention to expertise and the contracting out of public services.     

Quiet eye training aids the long-term learning of throwing and catching in children: Preliminary evidence for a predictive control strategy

Abstract

Quiet eye training (QET) may be a more effective method for teaching children to catch than traditional training (TT) methods, but it is unclear if the benefits accrued persist in the long term. Thirty children were randomly allocated into a QET or TT group and, while wearing a mobile eye tracker, underwent baseline testing, training and two retention tests over a period of eight weeks, using a validated throw and catch task. During training, movement-related information was provided to both groups, while the QET group received additional instruction to increase the duration of their targeting fixation (QE1) on the wall prior to the throw, and pursuit tracking (QE2) period on the ball prior to catching. In both immediate (R1) and delayed (R2, six weeks later) retention tests, the QET group had a significantly longer QE1 duration and an earlier and longer QE2 duration, compared to the TT group, who revealed no improvements. A performance advantage was also found for the QET compared to the TT group at both R1 and R2, revealing the relatively robust nature of the visuomotor alterations. Regression analyses suggested that only the duration of QE1 predicted variance in catch success post-training, pointing to the importance of a pre-programming visuomotor strategy for successful throw and catch performance.     

An occlusion paradigm to assess the importance of the timing of the quiet eye fixation

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore the significance of the ‘timing’ of the quiet eye (QE), and the relative importance of late (online control) or early (pre-programming) visual information for accuracy. Twenty-seven skilled golfers completed a putting task using an occlusion paradigm with three conditions: early (prior to backswing), late (during putter stroke), and no (control) occlusion of vision. Performance, QE, and kinematic variables relating to the swing were measured. Results revealed that providing only early visual information (occluding late visual information) had a significant detrimental effect on performance and kinematic measures, compared to the control condition (no occlusion), despite QE durations being maintained. Conversely, providing only late visual information (occluding early visual information) was not significantly detrimental to performance or kinematics, with results similar to those in the control condition. These findings imply that the visual information extracted during movement execution – the late proportion of the QE – is critical when golf putting. The results challenge the predominant view that the QE serves only a pre-programming function. We propose that the different proportions of the QE (before and during movement) may serve different functions in supporting accuracy in golf putting.     

Votary,Vixen and Vulgarian: German governesses and English Domesticity in Novels by Charlotte Yonge,Charlotte Brontë and Mary Braddon

ABSTRACT

Among the most amusing vignettes in Victorian novels are German governesses created by Charlotte Yonge, Charlotte Brontë and Mary Braddon. Fräulein Ohnglaube is a votary who believes in ghosts. Fräulein Müller is a vixen with a secret ambition, and Fräulein Braun is a vulgarian who scoffs two breakfasts of beef and beer. All are depicted as potential threats to the values and norms of the English ‘cult’ of domesticity.This paper argues that these authors wished to preserve and celebrate ‘pure‘ English domesticity . Their negative representations of German governesses reveal how thoroughly English and anti-cosmopolitan were their conceptualisations of domestic life.